Care chiefs have moved to reassure families who fear key burns services for seriously injured children are to be downgraded.

As the Chronicle revealed last month, a review of national facilities has recommended a shake-up which could see Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary affected.

The National Burn Care Group has suggested having only one specialist unit in the North, meaning young patients may have to travel to Manchester for treatment.

A campaign was launched to save the RVI's envied status and has been contacted by scores of people praising the hospital for the help they received there.

Yesterday, at a board meeting of the Newcastle Hospitals Trust committee members discussed the issue and vowed they would do all they can to retain its current status.

Sir Miles Irving, chairman of the trust, said: "We've got to avoid a knee-jerk reaction to the question of where care services should be provided.

"It should be based on good, clear evidence. Just because a report comes out doesn't mean its conclusions are written in tablets of stone.

"They're up for debate. I think we've got a very strong case because we've got a very strong set-up here.

"We have to view each case on its merits and we're now looking at it in terms of what the evidence is."

A report to the meeting said: "There are obvious and important disadvantages to such centralisation, including the delayed commencement of specialist care.

"These include the increased cost of transfer teams and the dislocation of family support as a consequence of greatly increased distances between home and hospital."

It also expressed concerns over the "erosion of the currently very strong relationships between the specialist paediatric burn care service in Newcastle and the local hospitals and community services in the region".